Hong Kong private equity firm Pacific Alliance Group has named former TPG Capital executive Weijian Shan as its new chairman and CEO.

Shan will start at PAG on July 1, less than a month after leaving Texas Pacific Group. He was the buyout giant’s top partner in China, having spent a dozen years with the firm, engineering its investment in Chinese lender Shenzhen Development Bank, which earned TPG more than $1 billion.

PAG, which manages about US$5 billion, plans to launch a new Asia-focused p.e. fund, led by Shan, who brings “significant capital commitments” to his new firm. Among those all-important client relationships is TPG itself, which will have some co-investment and co-sponsorship rights in PAG deals. Shan is also remaining an advisor to some TPG portfolio companies.

“I originally planned to start my own fund rooted in and committed to Asia, but having subsequently come to know the founders of Pacific Alliance Group and their investment platforms, I decided instead to partner with them to a grow a best-in-class private equity franchise,” Shan said.

“We genuinely believe that we are at an inflection point for the alternative investment industry in Asia, with local firms now able to attract the very best in the industry,” PAG founder Chris Grandel said.

PAG also said it had hired David Kim to serve as chief operating officer of its p.e. business. Kim joins from Nomura International, where he was head of Asia institutions.